Apparatus and System for Drying a Clay Court and Method of Using Same

ABSTRACT

A clay court drying apparatus including a vacuum attachment, wherein the vacuum attachment may include a vacuum head; an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head. The clay court drying apparatus may further include a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related, and claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 63/186,554, filed May 10, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter of the invention relates generally to an apparatus and system for drying clay courts, and more particularly to a vacuum apparatus and system for drying clay sports courts and method of using same.

BACKGROUND

Drying clay sports courts, such as a clay tennis court, can be a long and often inefficient process, and can damage or degrade the clay playing surface of the court. There are apparatuses and systems for removing excess liquid from various areas using, for example, a blower or vacuum system. However, such systems typically either blow both the excess water and solid particles around, or suck up both liquids and solids from the area to be dried. Using either of these systems on a clay sports court can damage and/or degrade the clay playing surface of the court, which is undesirable. In the instance of a clay sports courts, it would be desirable to be able quickly and effectively remove liquid from the playing surface of the clay court without damaging/degrading it by removing solid particulates (e.g., loose clay particles) from its surface. Therefore, new systems and methods are needed for quickly and effectively drying clay sports courts without removing or damaging the loose clay particles.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a clay court drying apparatus is provided. The clay court drying apparatus may include a vacuum attachment, wherein the vacuum attachment may include a vacuum head; an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head. The clay court drying apparatus may further include a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head. The filter mechanism may be integrated with the intake portion of the vacuum head. The filter mechanism may be removable from the intake portion of the vacuum head. The filter mechanism may include a filter frame and fasteners arranged about the filter frame, wherein the fasteners allow for the filter mechanism to be attached to and removed from the intake portion of the vacuum head. The filter mechanism may be configured to allow the passage of liquid therethrough while substantially blocking the passage of solid particulates. The filter mechanism may include a mesh fabric. The mesh fabric may include a multi-layer mesh fabric. The mesh fabric may include a mesh size in the range of about 1-mm to about a 2-mm.

In another embodiment, a clay court drying system is provided. The clay court drying system may include a vacuum attachment. The vacuum attachment may include a vacuum head; an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head. The clay court drying system may further include a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head; and a vacuum source coupled to the vacuum attachment and configured to provide a vacuum force through the filter mechanism. The vacuum source may be operatively coupled to the vacuum attachment by at least one of a vacuum wand and/or a vacuum hose. The vacuum source may be operatively coupled to the outlet portion of the vacuum head of the vacuum attachment by the at least one of the vacuum wand and the vacuum hose.

In yet another embodiment, a method of using a clay court drying system is provided. The method may include providing a clay court drying system, which may include a vacuum attachment, a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head; and a vacuum source coupled to the vacuum attachment and configured to provide a vacuum force through the filter mechanism. The method may further include activating the vacuum source; running the vacuum attachment over a playing surface of a clay court to be dried; and deactivating the vacuum source. The filter mechanism may be configured to allow the passage of liquid therethrough while substantially blocking the passage of solid particulates. The filter mechanism may include a mesh fabric. The mesh fabric may include a multi-layer mesh fabric. The mesh fabric may include a mesh size in the range of about 1-mm to about a 2-mm. The vacuum source may be operatively coupled to the vacuum attachment by at least one of a vacuum wand and/or a vacuum hose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described the subject matter of the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of an example apparatus for use in drying a clay sports court, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B illustrate perspective views of an example removable filter portion of an apparatus for use in drying a clay sports court, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic view of an example system for use in drying a clay sports court, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method of using the system for drying a clay sports court, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view (not to scale) of an example of using the system for drying a playing surface of a clay sports court, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of the invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are shown. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The subject matter of the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Indeed, many modifications and other embodiments of the subject matter of the invention set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the subject matter of the invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated Drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the subject matter of the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

In some embodiments, the subject matter of the invention provides a system that may include an apparatus for attachment to a vacuum source, the apparatus may include a filter mechanism through which liquids may pass via vacuum force while substantially excluding solid particulates and method of using same.

In some embodiments, the system may provide a mesh fabric filter mechanism integrated into the intake of the vacuum attachment and wherein the integrated mesh fabric filter mechanism may be capable to pass liquids via vacuum force while substantially excluding solid particulates.

In some embodiments, the system may provide a removable mesh fabric filter mechanism that may easily snap onto the intake of the vacuum attachment and wherein the removable mesh fabric filter mechanism may be capable to pass liquids via vacuum force while substantially excluding solid particulates.

In some embodiments, the system and method may provide a mesh fabric filter mechanism at the intake of the vacuum attachment and wherein the mesh fabric filter mechanism may be capable to remove water via vacuum force from the playing surface of a clay sports court, such as, but not limited to, a clay tennis court, while substantially not removing the solid clay particulates and/or sediment from the surface of the clay sports court.

Further, a method of using the system may be provided.

Referring now to FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vacuum attachment 105 of a clay court drying system 100. The clay court drying system 100 may include a vacuum attachment 105 and a filter mechanism 110 through which liquids may pass via vacuum force while substantially excluding solid particulates (such as, but not limited to, clay particles). In one embodiment, vacuum attachment 105 may include a vacuum head 115, which may include an intake portion 120 and an outlet portion 125 formed therein. Vacuum head 115, intake portion 120, and outlet portion 125 may be of any suitable shape and size. Vacuum attachment 105 may be formed, for example, of molded plastic, metal, and/or any other suitable material. In one example, vacuum attachment 105 may be configured to connect to a standard wet/dry shop style vacuum. In another example, vacuum attachment 105 may be configured to connect to a standard central vacuum style system.

The filter mechanism 110 of the clay court drying system 100, may be configured for passing liquids while substantially excluding solid particulates (such as, but not limited to, clay particles). In one example, filter mechanism 110 may be substantially integrated into the intake portion 120 of the vacuum head 115 of the vacuum attachment 105. For example, filter mechanism 110 may be an integrated formed part of the vacuum attachment 105. Filter mechanism 110 may be, for example, a mesh fabric material, such as, but not limited to, a mesh fabric material having a mesh size in the range of, but not limited to, about a 1-mm mesh fabric material to about a 2-mm mesh fabric material, or other suitable mesh size that allows for water to pass through but not solid particulates. Accordingly, the mesh fabric material may having a mesh size smaller or greater than 1-2 mm. The filter mechanism 110 may include one or multiple layers of mesh fabric material made of, for example, but not limited to, fabric mesh netting material, vinyl mesh fabric material, metal mesh fabric material, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) mesh fabric material, woven mesh fabric material, and/or any other suitable material.

Referring now to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are perspective views of an embodiment of the vacuum attachment 105 of the clay court drying system 100 that may include a removable filter mechanism 110 through which liquids may pass while substantially excluding solid particulates (such as, but not limited to, clay particles). In this embodiment, the vacuum attachment 105 may include vacuum head 115, intake portion 120, and outlet portion 125 and a removable filter mechanism 110. Removable filter mechanism 110 may be provided separately from the vacuum attachment 105, and then attached to the intake portion 120 of the vacuum head 115. For example, and referring now to FIG. 2A, filter mechanism 110 may be provided in a filter frame 130. Filter frame 130 may be about the same size and shape of intake portion 120 of the vacuum head 115 of the vacuum attachment 105. Filter frame 130 may be formed, for example, of molded plastic, metal, and/or other suitable material.

Further, an arrangement of fasteners 135 may be provided in various locations on the filter frame 130, for example, about the perimeter of the filter frame 130. The arrangement of fasteners 135 may include any number of fasteners 135. Fasteners 135 may be any type of fasteners that allows filter frame 130, which is holding filter mechanism 110, to be easily attached to and removed from intake 120 of vacuum attachment 105, as shown in FIG. 2B. In one example, the fasteners 135 may be spring tab type pressure/friction style fasteners. In other examples, instead of fasteners 135, filter frame 130 may be held onto intake portion 120 of vacuum attachment 105 using small screws, magnets, a hook and loop system (e.g., VELCRO®), straps, and/or any other suitable mechanism and/or technique. FIG. 2B shows an example of fasteners 135 attaching/fastening about an outside surface perimeter of intake portion 120; however, in an alternate embodiment, fasteners 135 may attach/fasten about an inner/inside surface perimeter of intake portion 120.

Referring now to FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an example of the clay court drying system 100 including the vacuum attachment 105 shown in FIG. 1 and/or vacuum attachment 105 shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B. In one embodiment of the vacuum system 100, outlet 125 of vacuum attachment 105 may be coupled to a vacuum wand 140, such as a standard style vacuum wand, that may further be coupled to a vacuum hose 145, such as standard style vacuum hose, that may be further coupled to a vacuum source 150. In one example, outlet portion 125 of vacuum attachment 105 may be coupled to the vacuum wand 140 via friction fit or any other suitable technique or mechanism. In one example, the vacuum wand 140 may be coupled to the vacuum hose 145 via friction fit or any other suitable technique or mechanism. In one example, the vacuum hose 145 may be further coupled to the vacuum source 150 via friction fit or any other suitable technique or mechanism. Further, outlet portion 125 of vacuum attachment 105 may be coupled directly to the vacuum wand 140 or directly to the vacuum hose 145, and may be coupled thereto via friction fit or any other suitable technique or mechanism.

Vacuum source 150 may be any vacuum or vacuum system, for example but not limited to, any standard wet/dry shop style vacuum or any standard central vacuum style system capable of wet/dry applications. Vacuum wand 140 and vacuum hose 145 may be provided with clay court drying system 100 or may alternatively be components typically provided with most standard wet/dry shop style vacuums and/or standard central vacuum style systems, and may be of various lengths.

Referring now to FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example of a method 200 of using the clay court drying system 100. Method 200 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following steps, and may vary in order performed.

At a step 210, the clay court drying system with vacuum attachment and having the mesh filter material at its intake may be provided. In one example, and referring now to FIG. 1, the clay court drying system 100 with vacuum attachment 105 and including the integrated filter mechanism 110 may be provided. In another example and referring now to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the clay court drying system 100 with the vacuum attachment 105 including the removable filter mechanism 110 may be provided.

At a step 215, the vacuum attachment including the mesh filter material may be coupled to a vacuum source. For example, and referring now to clay court drying system 100 shown in FIG. 3, outlet portion 125 of vacuum attachment 105, may be coupled to a vacuum wand 140 that may be further coupled to the vacuum hose 145 that may be further coupled to the vacuum source 150.

At a step 220, the clay court drying system may be activated and thereby supply vacuum force to the vacuum attachment including the mesh filter material. For example, and referring still to clay court drying system 100 shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum source 150 may be activated and thereby supply vacuum force to vacuum attachment 105 including mesh filter mechanism 110.

At a step 225, the vacuum attachment is run over the surface to be dried (e.g., a playing surface of a clay sports court) and, for example, water may be drawn in via vacuum force through the mesh filter material of vacuum attachment while leaving behind other solid debris or particulates (e.g., clay particles). For example and referring still to clay court drying system 100 shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum head 115 of the vacuum attachment 105, including mesh filter mechanism 110, may be run over the surface to be dried and, for example, water may be drawn in via vacuum force through mesh filter mechanism 110 and intake portion 120 of vacuum attachment 105 while leaving behind other solid debris or particulates (e.g., clay particles).

At a step 230, the clay court drying system may be deactivated. For example, and referring still to clay court drying system 100 shown in FIG. 3, upon completion of drying the surface, vacuum source 150 may be deactivated. Further, upon completion of drying the surface, vacuum attachment 105 and mesh filter mechanism 110 may be cleaned of any solid debris or particulates trapped within vacuum attachment 105 and/or mesh filter mechanism 110. For example, vacuum attachment 105 and mesh filter mechanism 110 may be cleaned using a standard water hose.

Referring now to FIG. 5 is a perspective view (not to scale) of an example of using the clay court drying system 100 for removing water from a playing surface 310 of a clay tennis court 300 without removing the solid clay particulates 305 according to, for example, method 200 shown and described with reference to FIG. 4, and therefore preventing damage or degradation of the playing surface.

In this example, clay tennis court 300 has a clay playing surface 310, and wherein the clay playing surface 310 may have a certain amount of loose clay particulate or sediment 305. FIG. 5 shows certain areas of water 315 atop clay playing surface 310. In this example, vacuum attachment 105 may be coupled to vacuum source 150, such as a standard wet/dry shop style vacuum via a vacuum wand 140 and/or vacuum hose 145. Using vacuum source 150, vacuum force is applied to the intake portion 120 of the vacuum attachment 105, and wherein using filter mechanism 110 the water 315 may be removed from clay tennis court 300 without removing the loose clay particulate or sediment 305 of the clay playing surface 310. In this way, vacuum attachment 105 that includes filter mechanism 110 may be used to quickly and effectively dry the clay playing surface 310 of the clay tennis court 300 according to, for example, method 200 shown in FIG. 4, without removing the loose clay particulate or sediment 305 and thereby damaging and/or degrading the playing surface (i.e., clay playing surface 310) of the clay tennis court 300.

Following long-standing patent law convention, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” refer to “one or more” when used in this application, including the claims. Thus, for example, reference to “a subject” includes a plurality of subjects, unless the context clearly is to the contrary (e.g., a plurality of subjects), and so forth.

Throughout this specification and the claims, the terms “comprise,” “comprises,” and “comprising” are used in a non-exclusive sense, except where the context requires otherwise. Likewise, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items.

For the purposes of this specification and appended claims, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing amounts, sizes, dimensions, proportions, shapes, formulations, parameters, percentages, quantities, characteristics, and other numerical values used in the specification and claims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about” even though the term “about” may not expressly appear with the value, amount or range. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are not and need not be exact, but may be approximate and/or larger or smaller as desired, reflecting tolerances, conversion factors, rounding off, measurement error and the like, and other factors known to those of skill in the art depending on the desired properties sought to be obtained by the subject matter of the invention. For example, the term “about,” when referring to a value can be meant to encompass variations of, in some embodiments ±100%, in some embodiments ±50%, in some embodiments ±20%, in some embodiments ±10%, in some embodiments ±5%, in some embodiments ±1%, in some embodiments ±0.5%, and in some embodiments ±0.1% from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate to perform the disclosed methods or employ the disclosed compositions.

Further, the term “about” when used in connection with one or more numbers or numerical ranges, should be understood to refer to all such numbers, including all numbers in a range and modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth. The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers, e.g., whole integers, including fractions thereof, subsumed within that range (for example, the recitation of 1 to 5 includes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as fractions thereof, e.g., 1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 4.1, and the like) and any range within that range.

Although the foregoing subject matter has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that certain changes and modifications can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims. 

That which is claimed:
 1. A clay court drying apparatus, comprising: a. a vacuum attachment, comprising: i. a vacuum head; ii. an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and iii. an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head; and b. a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filter mechanism is integrated with the intake portion of the vacuum head.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filter mechanism is removable from the intake portion of the vacuum head.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the filter mechanism comprises a filter frame and fasteners arranged about the filter frame, wherein the fasteners allow for the filter mechanism to be attached to and removed from the intake portion of the vacuum head.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filter mechanism is configured to allow the passage of liquid therethrough while substantially blocking the passage of solid particulates.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filter mechanism comprises a mesh fabric.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the mesh fabric comprises a multi-layer mesh fabric.
 8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the mesh fabric comprises a mesh size in the range of about 1-mm to about a 2-mm.
 9. A clay court drying system, comprising: a. a vacuum attachment, comprising: i. a vacuum head; ii. an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and iii. an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head; b. a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head; and c. a vacuum source coupled to the vacuum attachment and configured to provide a vacuum force through the filter mechanism.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the vacuum source is operatively coupled to the vacuum attachment by at least one of a vacuum wand and a vacuum hose.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the vacuum source is operatively coupled to the outlet portion of the vacuum head of the vacuum attachment by the at least one of the vacuum wand and the vacuum hose.
 12. A method of using a clay court drying system, the method comprising: a. providing a clay court drying system, comprising: i. a vacuum attachment, comprising: a vacuum head; an intake portion formed in a first region of the vacuum head; and an outlet portion formed in a second region of the vacuum head; ii. a filter mechanism disposed at the intake portion of the vacuum head; and iii. a vacuum source coupled to the vacuum attachment and configured to provide a vacuum force through the filter mechanism. b. activating the vacuum source; c. running the vacuum attachment over a playing surface of a clay court to be dried; and d. deactivating the vacuum source.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the filter mechanism is configured to allow the passage of liquid therethrough while substantially blocking the passage of solid particulates.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the filter mechanism comprises a mesh fabric.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the mesh fabric comprises a multi-layer mesh fabric.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the mesh fabric comprises a mesh size in the range of about 1-mm to about a 2-mm.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the vacuum source is operatively coupled to the vacuum attachment by at least one of a vacuum wand and a vacuum hose. 